Great Wolf Lodge, Grapevine (Dallas area)
We first heard about Great Wolf Lodge when it was offered as one of our “gifts” for sitting through a 90 minute Silverleaf timeshare presentation in Conroe. We went there because I wanted to win a truck. . . From the advertisements, GWL looked to be some kind of hotel with a large outdoor water slide. We opted for another gift of lesser value because my husband said, “We’ll never go to Dallas, it’s too far away,” and “They are only giving these away because who wants to go down a water slide in the winter?” Several months later, a co-worker told me about a family reunion at this place where kids are encouraged to run all over the hotel unsupervised with magic wands on a quest. Later that week, I got a Groupon coupon for Great Wolf Lodge too good to turn down. We were destined to go there.
Great Wolf Lodge is essentially a water park with a very grand façade and hotel tacked onto it. I liked it, our au son loved it, my nt son thought it was “OK,” and my husband actively disliked it. I just didn’t like the fact that the outdoor park was not open, and I expected it to be given the high temperatures outside and the crowds inside. Also, I couldn’t get a decent WiFi signal from my room.
The indoor waterpark was excellent, however, with good slides. Yes, I went down them. It is better for smaller kids and for pre-teens than a waterpark like Schitterbahn. You can take a virtual tour of the waterpark on GWL’s website.
The indoor water park is completely enclosed, making it fairly easy to keep track of the kids. My husband can’t go on water slides due to his back, so he was bored, and he disliked the dining options there. I am not a foodie but yes, I disliked the dining options too, precisely because I’m not a foodie. In the morning I just wanted a really good bagel and coffee, not an all you can eat buffet for $14.95.
Also, because we weren’t going to let our two kids “quest” unattended down the halls of a busy hotel (where a stranger could, conceivably, grab them and pull them into his room), we didn’t have the downtime that other, perhaps more apathetic parents appeared to be enjoying. But the slides were fun and I would definitely go back if only I could persuade my husband to return.
